Freethought & Rationalism Archive

NeilUnreal · 02-10-2002, 08:38 AM

Oh no! A Gnome Gap!

It's obvious Neanderthals and Homo sapiens are unrelated; no Neanderthal ever took a picture of a gnome in front of Mount Rushmore!

-Neil

theyeti · 02-10-2002, 11:29 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Gringo:
<strong>Could it not be possible that Neandertal is ancestral to modern humans? I know the Y chromosome and mitochondrial DNA is spoken for, but that is only two lines in many millions. Unless there was that much genetic drift that the two couldn't possibly produce fertile offspring, I would think there would be a high probability that we have Neandertals sitting in some of those ancestral branches.</strong>

I don't think they've isolated any Neandertal Y chromosomal DNA. If they had, then it would be extremely informative. It is very much possible that Neandertals are ancestral to us, and this is currently the subject of considerable debate. (Actually, since H.s. neandertalensis and H.s. sapeins coexisted, the question is more about interbreeding. In other words, does any Neandertal DNA exist in ourselves?) The mitochondrial DNA seems to indicate that there is no Neandertal DNA in us, but this data is inconclusive for a few reasons. First of all, mitochondrial DNA is passed down only through a maternal lineage, so it tells us nothing about the possiblities of a male Neadertal ancestor (Y chromosomes would tell us this). Secondly, there is only a handfull of mitochondrial sequences available. What they tell us is that those Neadertals likely didn't contribute any DNA to modern humans, but there could be an isolated subpopulation that did. Thirdly, even if they didn't contribute any mitochondrial DNA, they could have contributed nuclear DNA without any direct maternal ancestors. In other words, a female Neandertal could mate with a sapiens male, and have a bunch of male offspring who are our direct ancestors. There would be no mitochondrial DNA passed on, but there might be X chromosomal DNA passed on. (This is really just a reworking of #1.) Anyway, I don't know that the controversy will be settled any time soon.

theyeti

phaedrus · 02-11-2002, 02:32 AM

<a href="http://www.promega.com/profiles/402/ProfilesinDNA_402_09.pdf" target="_blank">The Isolation and Identification of Neanderthal Mitochondrial ... </a>

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02-10-2002, 08:38 AM	#11
NeilUnreal Junior Member Join Date: Nov 2001 Location: USA Posts: 77	Oh no! A Gnome Gap! It's obvious Neanderthals and Homo sapiens are unrelated; no Neanderthal ever took a picture of a gnome in front of Mount Rushmore! -Neil

02-11-2002, 02:32 AM	#13
phaedrus Veteran Member Join Date: Oct 2000 Location: Indus Posts: 1,038	<a href="http://www.promega.com/profiles/402/ProfilesinDNA_402_09.pdf" target="_blank">The Isolation and Identification of Neanderthal Mitochondrial ... </a>

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